| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| score |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  skôr, sk r |
| NOUN: | 1. A notch or incision, especially one that is made to keep a tally. 2. Sports & Games a. A usually numerical record of a competitive event: keeping score. b. The total number of points made by each competitor or side in a contest, either final or at a given stage: The score stood tied in the bottom of the ninth inning. c. The number of points attributed to a competitor or team. 3. A result, usually expressed numerically, of a test or examination. 4a. An amount due; a debt. b. A grievance that is harbored and requires satisfaction: settle an old score. 5. A ground; a reason. 6. A group of 20 items. 7. scores Large numbers: Scores of people attended the rally. 8. Music a. The notation of a musical work. b. The written form of a composition for orchestral or vocal parts. c. The music written for a film or a play. 9. Slang a. The act of securing an advantage, especially a surprising or significant gain: “He had dropped out of school and gone for that quick dollar, that big score” (Peter Goldman). b. The act or an instance of buying illicit drugs. c. A successful robbery. d. A sexual conquest. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: scored, scor·ing, scores
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To mark with lines or notches, especially for the purpose of keeping a record. 2. To cancel or eliminate by or as if by superimposing lines. 3. To mark the surface of (meat, for example) with usually parallel cuts. 4. Sports & Games a. To gain (a point) in a game or contest. b. To count or be worth as points: A basket scores two points. c. To keep a written record of the score or events of (a game or contest). d. Baseball To cause (a base runner) to cross home plate, especially by getting a hit: scored both runners with a double. 5. To achieve; win. 6. To evaluate and assign a grade to. 7. Music a. To orchestrate. b. To arrange for a specific instrument. 8. To criticize cuttingly; berate. 9. Slang a. To succeed in acquiring: scored two tickets to the play. b. To succeed in obtaining (an illicit drug): “Aging punks try to impress her with tales of . . . the different drugs they've scored” (Art Jahnke). | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. Sports & Games a. To make a point in a game or contest. b. To keep the score of a game or contest. 2. Slang a. To achieve a purpose or advantage, especially to make a surprising gain or coup: “They . . . score in places like the bond market” (Mike Barnicle). b. To succeed in seducing someone sexually. c. To succeed in buying or obtaining an illicit drug. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old English scoru, twenty, from Old Norse skor. See sker-1 in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | scor er —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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